Law Blog Lawyer of the Day: The SEC’s Morgan Ward Doran

[WSJ_law_blog]

Yesterday, as we read what we believed to be a lawyer-free WSJ story, entitled “How Voter Fury Stopped Bailout,” we came to this nugget:

“The proposal’s defeat was also cheered on by a number of blogs that in recent days have posted links to lawmakers’ telephone and fax numbers and urged citizens to oppose the plan. They included Stop The Housing Bailout!, a Web site organized by a 37-year-old Los Angeles attorney named Morgan Ward Doran . . .”

A Googling of Doran turned up SEC complaints with his name on them — as a representative of the SEC. Could it be, we marveled, an attorney for the SEC spending his spare time railing against the Bush administration’s plan to provide the Treasury Secretary with $700 billion to bailout Wall Street?

It’s true. Doran confirms that he works at the SEC. An SEC spokesman told the Law Blog that Doran’s extracurricular blogging breaks no SEC rules.

Here’s a disclaimer that Doran sent to the reporter on the story:

The Securities and Exchange Commission disclaims responsibility for any private publication or statement of any SEC employee or Commissioner.
My remarks today as well as those on my website express my views and do not necessarily reflect those of the Commission, the Commissioners, or other members of the staff.